Netherlands’ exchange traded fund (ETF) and markets could benefit from the recent scientific project that is getting creative with alternative energy sources.

Cows and pigs dot the landscape on the green plains in southern Netherlands, which appear to scientists as possible smokestacks, rich with methane gas to be captured, reports Elisabeth Rosenthal for the International Herald Tribune.

A group of farmers-turned-scientists are breaking new ground in the creativity of alternative energy production, where they cook the manure from 3,000 pigs and trap the methane gas to be delivered to the local power grid.

The so-called Sterksel project is an example of the eco-conscious Netherlands, where their concern also lies in the problem of meat consumption growing around the world, and the fact that the over-production of farm animals actually produces 18% of the greenhouse emissions each year. The “methane capture” project will alleviate both concerns a bit, and methane has proven itself to be more efficient than carbon dioxide.

California is already working on a program to encourage systems in pig and dairy farms like the one in Sterksel.

• Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy (GEX): down 67.2% year-to-date

• UBS E-TRACS CMCI Livestock Index (UBC): down 19.4% since April 4 inception

Tags: Agriculture, Alternative Energy, Energy, Europe, Green ETFs, Netherlands, UBC, Utilities